British filmmaker Daniel Gordon talks to Luke Feltham about the criticisms levelled at his latest work, The Life and Trials of Oscar Pistorius, a new four-part documentary series that covers the Icarian fall of the Olympian, who shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on 14 February 2014. The film — the first episode of which aired in South Africa a few weeks ago — has been met with loud, polarised reactions.
How much did you know about Oscar Pistorius before ESPN approached you to do the film?
I would have followed Oscar and his story, but at a distance. I’m a big track and field fan; I’m a big sports fan, particularly of soccer, and a lot of my films have a sports element to it — a sports backdrop to telling the bigger story. [Pistorius] wasn’t really on my radar and I hadn’t really followed the trial. I came at it very neutrally, for the entire story.
